Kitabı oku: «Some Poems», sayfa 2

THE VISION OF DON RODERICK

I

 
  Rearing their crests amid the cloudless skies,
    And darkly clustering in the pale moonlight,
  Toledo’s holy towers and spires arise,
    As from a trembling lake of silver white.
  Their mingled shadows intercept the sight
    Of the broad burial-ground outstretched below,
  And nought disturbs the silence of the night;
    All sleeps in sullen shade, or silver glow,
All save the heavy swell of Teio’s ceaseless flow.
 

II

 
  All save the rushing swell of Teio’s tide,
    Or, distant heard, a courser’s neigh or tramp;
  Their changing rounds as watchful horsemen ride,
    To guard the limits of King Roderick’s camp.
  For through the river’s night-fog rolling damp
    Was many a proud pavilion dimly seen,
  Which glimmered back, against the moon’s fair lamp,
    Tissues of silk and silver twisted sheen,
And standards proudly pitched, and warders armed between.
 

III

 
  But of their Monarch’s person keeping ward,
    Since last the deep-mouthed bell of vespers tolled,
  The chosen soldiers of the royal guard
    The post beneath the proud Cathedral hold:
  A band unlike their Gothic sires of old,
    Who, for the cap of steel and iron mace,
  Bear slender darts, and casques bedecked with gold,
    While silver-studded belts their shoulders grace,
Where ivory quivers ring in the broad falchion’s place.
 

IV

 
  In the light language of an idle court,
    They murmured at their master’s long delay,
  And held his lengthened orisons in sport: -
    “What! will Don Roderick here till morning stay,
  To wear in shrift and prayer the night away?
    And are his hours in such dull penance past,
  For fair Florinda’s plundered charms to pay?”
    Then to the east their weary eyes they cast,
And wished the lingering dawn would glimmer forth at last.
 

V

 
  But, far within, Toledo’s Prelate lent
    An ear of fearful wonder to the King;
  The silver lamp a fitful lustre sent,
    So long that sad confession witnessing:
  For Roderick told of many a hidden thing,
    Such as are lothly uttered to the air,
  When Fear, Remorse, and Shame the bosom wring,
    And Guilt his secret burden cannot bear,
And Conscience seeks in speech a respite from Despair.
 

VI

 
  Full on the Prelate’s face, and silver hair,
    The stream of failing light was feebly rolled:
  But Roderick’s visage, though his head was bare,
    Was shadowed by his hand and mantle’s fold.
  While of his hidden soul the sins he told,
    Proud Alaric’s descendant could not brook,
  That mortal man his bearing should behold,
    Or boast that he had seen, when Conscience shook,
Fear tame a monarch’s brow, Remorse a warrior’s look.
 

VII

 
  The old man’s faded cheek waxed yet more pale,
    As many a secret sad the King bewrayed;
  As sign and glance eked out the unfinished tale,
    When in the midst his faltering whisper stayed.
  “Thus royal Witiza was slain,” – he said;
    “Yet, holy Father, deem not it was I.”
  Thus still Ambition strives her crimes to shade. -
    “Oh, rather deem ’twas stern necessity!
Self-preservation bade, and I must kill or die.
 

VIII

 
  “And if Florinda’s shrieks alarmed the air,
    If she invoked her absent sire in vain,
  And on her knees implored that I would spare,
    Yet, reverend Priest, thy sentence rash refrain!
  All is not as it seems – the female train
    Know by their bearing to disguise their mood:”
  But Conscience here, as if in high disdain,
    Sent to the Monarch’s cheek the burning blood -
He stayed his speech abrupt – and up the Prelate stood.
 

IX

 
  “O hardened offspring of an iron race!
    What of thy crimes, Don Roderick, shall I say?
  What alms, or prayers, or penance can efface
    Murder’s dark spot, wash treason’s stain away!
  For the foul ravisher how shall I pray,
    Who, scarce repentant, makes his crime his boast?
  How hope Almighty vengeance shall delay,
    Unless, in mercy to yon Christian host,
He spare the shepherd, lest the guiltless sheep be lost?”
 

X

 
  Then kindled the dark tyrant in his mood,
    And to his brow returned its dauntless gloom;
  “And welcome then,” he cried, “be blood for blood,
    For treason treachery, for dishonour doom!
  Yet will I know whence come they, or by whom.
    Show, for thou canst – give forth the fated key,
  And guide me, Priest, to that mysterious room,
    Where, if aught true in old tradition be,
His nation’s future fates a Spanish King shall see.”
 

XI

 
  “Ill-fated Prince! recall the desperate word,
    Or pause ere yet the omen thou obey!
  Bethink, yon spell-bound portal would afford
    Never to former Monarch entrance-way;
  Nor shall it ever ope, old records say,
    Save to a King, the last of all his line,
  What time his empire totters to decay,
    And treason digs, beneath, her fatal mine,
And, high above, impends avenging wrath divine.” -
 

XII

 
  “Prelate! a Monarch’s fate brooks no delay;
    Lead on!” – The ponderous key the old man took,
  And held the winking lamp, and led the way,
    By winding stair, dark aisle, and secret nook,
  Then on an ancient gateway bent his look;
    And, as the key the desperate King essayed,
  Low muttered thunders the Cathedral shook,
    And twice he stopped, and twice new effort made,
Till the huge bolts rolled back, and the loud hinges brayed.
 

XIII

 
  Long, large, and lofty was that vaulted hall;
    Roof, walls, and floor were all of marble stone,
  Of polished marble, black as funeral pall,
    Carved o’er with signs and characters unknown.
  A paly light, as of the dawning, shone
    Through the sad bounds, but whence they could not spy;
  For window to the upper air was none;
    Yet, by that light, Don Roderick could descry
Wonders that ne’er till then were seen by mortal eye.
 

XIV

 
  Grim sentinels, against the upper wall,
    Of molten bronze, two Statues held their place;
  Massive their naked limbs, their stature tall,
    Their frowning foreheads golden circles grace.
  Moulded they seemed for kings of giant race,
    That lived and sinned before the avenging flood;
  This grasped a scythe, that rested on a mace;
    This spread his wings for flight, that pondering stood,
Each stubborn seemed and stern, immutable of mood.
 

XV

 
  Fixed was the right-hand Giant’s brazen look
    Upon his brother’s glass of shifting sand,
  As if its ebb he measured by a book,
    Whose iron volume loaded his huge hand;
  In which was wrote of many a fallen land
    Of empires lost, and kings to exile driven:
  And o’er that pair their names in scroll expand -
    “Lo, DESTINY and TIME! to whom by Heaven
The guidance of the earth is for a season given.” -
 

XVI

 
  Even while they read, the sand-glass wastes away;
    And, as the last and lagging grains did creep,
  That right-hand Giant ’gan his club upsway,
    As one that startles from a heavy sleep.
  Full on the upper wall the mace’s sweep
    At once descended with the force of thunder,
  And hurtling down at once, in crumbled heap,
    The marble boundary was rent asunder,
And gave to Roderick’s view new sights of fear and wonder.
 

XVII

 
  For they might spy, beyond that mighty breach,
    Realms as of Spain in visioned prospect laid,
  Castles and towers, in due proportion each,
    As by some skilful artist’s hand portrayed:
  Here, crossed by many a wild Sierra’s shade,
    And boundless plains that tire the traveller’s eye;
  There, rich with vineyard and with olive glade,
    Or deep-embrowned by forests huge and high,
Or washed by mighty streams, that slowly murmured by.
 

XVIII

 
  And here, as erst upon the antique stage
    Passed forth the band of masquers trimly led,
  In various forms, and various equipage,
    While fitting strains the hearer’s fancy fed;
  So, to sad Roderick’s eye in order spread,
    Successive pageants filled that mystic scene,
  Showing the fate of battles ere they bled,
    And issue of events that had not been;
And, ever and anon, strange sounds were heard between.
 

XIX

 
  First shrilled an unrepeated female shriek! -
    It seemed as if Don Roderick knew the call,
  For the bold blood was blanching in his cheek. -
    Then answered kettle-drum and attabal,
  Gong-peal and cymbal-clank the ear appal,
    The Tecbir war-cry, and the Lelie’s yell,
  Ring wildly dissonant along the hall.
    Needs not to Roderick their dread import tell -
“The Moor!” he cried, “the Moor! – ring out the Tocsin bell!
 

XX

 
  “They come! they come!  I see the groaning lands
    White with the turbans of each Arab horde;
  Swart Zaarah joins her misbelieving bands,
    Alla and Mahomet their battle-word,
  The choice they yield, the Koran or the Sword -
    See how the Christians rush to arms amain! -
  In yonder shout the voice of conflict roared,
    The shadowy hosts are closing on the plain -
Now, God and Saint Iago strike, for the good cause of Spain!
 

XXI

 
  “By Heaven, the Moors prevail! the Christians yield!
    Their coward leader gives for flight the sign!
  The sceptred craven mounts to quit the field -
    Is not yon steed Orelio? – Yes, ’tis mine!
  But never was she turned from battle-line:
    Lo! where the recreant spurs o’er stock and stone! -
  Curses pursue the slave, and wrath divine!
    Rivers ingulph him!” – ”Hush,” in shuddering tone,
The Prelate said; “rash Prince, yon visioned form’s thine own.”
 

XXII

 
  Just then, a torrent crossed the flier’s course;
    The dangerous ford the Kingly Likeness tried;
  But the deep eddies whelmed both man and horse,
    Swept like benighted peasant down the tide;
  And the proud Moslemah spread far and wide,
    As numerous as their native locust band;
  Berber and Ismael’s sons the spoils divide,
    With naked scimitars mete out the land,
And for the bondsmen base the free-born natives brand.
 

XXIII

 
  Then rose the grated Harem, to enclose
    The loveliest maidens of the Christian line;
  Then, menials, to their misbelieving foes,
    Castile’s young nobles held forbidden wine;
  Then, too, the holy Cross, salvation’s sign,
    By impious hands was from the altar thrown,
  And the deep aisles of the polluted shrine
  Echoed, for holy hymn and organ-tone,
The Santon’s frantic dance, the Fakir’s gibbering moan.
 

XXIV

 
  How fares Don Roderick? – E’en as one who spies
    Flames dart their glare o’er midnight’s sable woof,
  And hears around his children’s piercing cries,
    And sees the pale assistants stand aloof;
  While cruel Conscience brings him bitter proof,
    His folly, or his crime, have caused his grief;
  And while above him nods the crumbling roof,
    He curses earth and Heaven – himself in chief -
Desperate of earthly aid, despairing Heaven’s relief!
 

XXV

 
  That scythe-armed Giant turned his fatal glass
    And twilight on the landscape closed her wings;
  Far to Asturian hills the war-sounds pass,
    And in their stead rebeck or timbrel rings;
  And to the sound the bell-decked dancer springs,
    Bazars resound as when their marts are met,
  In tourney light the Moor his jerrid flings,
    And on the land as evening seemed to set,
The Imaum’s chant was heard from mosque or minaret.
 

XXVI

 
  So passed that pageant.  Ere another came,
    The visionary scene was wrapped in smoke
  Whose sulph’rous wreaths were crossed by sheets of flame;
    With every flash a bolt explosive broke,
  Till Roderick deemed the fiends had burst their yoke,
    And waved ’gainst heaven the infernal gonfalone!
  For War a new and dreadful language spoke,
    Never by ancient warrior heard or known;
Lightning and smoke her breath, and thunder was her tone.
 

XXVII

 
  From the dim landscape rolled the clouds away -
    The Christians have regained their heritage;
  Before the Cross has waned the Crescent’s ray,
    And many a monastery decks the stage,
  And lofty church, and low-browed hermitage.
    The land obeys a Hermit and a Knight, -
  The Genii those of Spain for many an age;
    This clad in sackcloth, that in armour bright,
And that was VALOUR named, this BIGOTRY was hight.
 

XXVIII

 
  VALOUR was harnessed like a chief of old,
    Armed at all points, and prompt for knightly gest;
  His sword was tempered in the Ebro cold,
    Morena’s eagle plume adorned his crest,
  The spoils of Afric’s lion bound his breast.
    Fierce he stepped forward and flung down his gage;
  As if of mortal kind to brave the best.
    Him followed his Companion, dark and sage,
As he, my Master, sung the dangerous Archimage.
 

XXIX

 
  Haughty of heart and brow the Warrior came,
    In look and language proud as proud might be,
  Vaunting his lordship, lineage, fights, and fame:
    Yet was that barefoot Monk more proud than he:
  And as the ivy climbs the tallest tree,
    So round the loftiest soul his toils he wound,
  And with his spells subdued the fierce and free,
    Till ermined Age and Youth in arms renowned,
Honouring his scourge and haircloth, meekly kissed the ground.
 

XXX

 
  And thus it chanced that VALOUR, peerless knight,
    Who ne’er to King or Kaiser vailed his crest,
  Victorious still in bull-feast or in fight,
    Since first his limbs with mail he did invest,
  Stooped ever to that Anchoret’s behest;
    Nor reasoned of the right, nor of the wrong,
  But at his bidding laid the lance in rest,
    And wrought fell deeds the troubled world along,
For he was fierce as brave, and pitiless as strong.
 

XXXI

 
  Oft his proud galleys sought some new-found world,
    That latest sees the sun, or first the morn;
  Still at that Wizard’s feet their spoils he hurled, -
    Ingots of ore from rich Potosi borne,
  Crowns by Caciques, aigrettes by Omrahs worn,
    Wrought of rare gems, but broken, rent, and foul;
  Idols of gold from heathen temples torn,
    Bedabbled all with blood. – With grisly scowl
The Hermit marked the stains, and smiled beneath his cowl.
 

XXXII

 
  Then did he bless the offering, and bade make
    Tribute to Heaven of gratitude and praise;
  And at his word the choral hymns awake,
    And many a hand the silver censer sways,
  But with the incense-breath these censers raise,
    Mix steams from corpses smouldering in the fire;
  The groans of prisoned victims mar the lays,
    And shrieks of agony confound the quire;
While, ’mid the mingled sounds, the darkened scenes expire.
 

XXXIII

 
  Preluding light, were strains of music heard,
    As once again revolved that measured sand;
  Such sounds as when, for silvan dance prepared,
    Gay Xeres summons forth her vintage band;
  When for the light bolero ready stand
    The mozo blithe, with gay muchacha met,
  He conscious of his broidered cap and band,
    She of her netted locks and light corsette,
Each tiptoe perched to spring, and shake the castanet.
 

XXXIV

 
  And well such strains the opening scene became;
    For VALOUR had relaxed his ardent look,
  And at a lady’s feet, like lion tame,
    Lay stretched, full loath the weight of arms to brook;
  And softened BIGOTRY, upon his book,
    Pattered a task of little good or ill:
  But the blithe peasant plied his pruning-hook,